Canaba speaks on youth outreach at RRWF

Saturday

Apr 26, 2014 at 3:00 AM

By Jack BarnwellCITY EDITORjbarnwell@ridgecrestca.com

A Central California entertainment and marketing company producer spoke Friday at the Ridgecrest Republican Women on matters pertaining to the entertainment industry and engaging the youth.Maggie Canaba, project manager for daisyentertainment, highlighted her own experiences as a young Latina American growing up in California as No. 9 in a family of 10 children with a father from Mexico and mother from El Paso. She said her family worked hard.A self-identified authority on the subject, she noted that a lapse has occurred in what has become acceptable in the entertainment industry these days, especially as the youth in America become more exposed.Before launching into that subject, she noted her own background was one of hard work.“At 13 years old, my dad said, ‘If you’re old enough to get into trouble, you’re definitely old enough to work,’” Canaba said. “And sure enough I started working as honeydew melon picker, which was long. To work in a packing shed would have been a Holiday Inn job.”She said it was a hard, arduous tenure in which money was saved up for college and a car.In college at California State University, Bakersfield, Canaba said she started becoming interested in government and civil work.“I think from the beginning I had a servant’s heart because I felt like I needed to get involved and include other people that perhaps didn’t have an opportunity or the gift of family,” Canaba said.She said that youth should contribute and make the necessary sacrifices or prices to contribute to the U.S. society.Initially an employee for the Kern County Probation Department, Canaba said she jumped ship into the entertainment industry, beginning her career at Univision.“I quickly found out that I couldn’t just be in entertainment for the sake of entertainment or a paycheck,” Canaba said. “It can be a very frivolous job, but it is also a huge opportunity because you are close up to what is impacting and changing everyone’s lives.”In that arena, she noted what she called the “careless and irresponsible” trend in entertainment, notably Spanish language media and particularly music.“The songs that were being played were being fed to support an industry that is not a good industry,” Canaba expressed. She said her contribution was simple for that.“When I coordinated or produced events, I forewarned any of my artists that if they had any of that dialogue, they were absolutely out,” Canaba said. “If they cheated on stage, their paycheck would be docked.”From her perspective, this type of negative language is pervasive in all types of music, whether Spanish-based, pop, or rap.“This is very concerning for me,” she said, and a problem that needs to be addressed.She said it also translates over into a sense of entitlement for young Americans, especially in her own culture, of being strong and learning to be soft.To that end, Canaba said and a few groups are working in the background, trying to instill a strong sense of patriotism and pride in the younger generations.“If you learn to sacrifice and if something has a price, you will learn to take care of it,” Canaba said. “There has to be a sense of pride and contribution, a sense that you have paid a price and that you are not entitled to it.”Canaba switched back and forth between entertainment and outreach, calling it a chain reaction.“You’ve got to watch your children watch or listen,” she said, especially as it becomes easier to access entertainment via mobile technology like tablet computers and smartphones.It’s a matter of simply contacting network stations or companies, whether corporate owned or local affiliates, asking for their public records as required by FCC regulations, and view the programing. From there, it’s a matter of filing complaints if something is out of balance.“I challenge and appeal to you that if there is something you do not like, take the opportunity to do something about it,” Canaba said.

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